To Nobody’s Surprise Google Announces the Nexus One Android Phone

On 01.05.10, In Technology, By AC Slater

That's right, as expected Google's big announcement [so far] is the next phone in the Android family, The Nexus One. Pictures and reviews have been floating around the web for a couple weeks now so this announcement is no surprise.

Nexus One Specs

  • 3.7" AMOLED Display 480x800
  • Trackball - mutli-color notification LED
  • Light/Proximity Sensors
  • 1 ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor
  • Compass
  • GPS
  • Wi-Fi
  • Accelerometer
  • Thinner than a #2 Pencil
  • Lighter Than a Swiss Army Keychain
  • 5 Megapixel Camera w/ LED Flash
  • MPEG4 Videos w/ Direct YouTube Uploading
  • Stereo Bluetooth
  • 3.5mm headphone jack
  • 2 Microphones, 1 on front and 1 on back for noise cancellation
  • Custom Engraving on Back
  • Android 2.1

You can buy the phone today directly from Google at http://www.google.com/phone. Currently the phone will work with T-Mobile in the US, but they are expecting to add more carriers in the future, two of which are Verizon (Spring 2010) and Vodafone. The phone will cost $530 unlocked and $180 on T-Mobile with a contract. Now my issue is if the 3G doesn't work on AT&T's network in the US, why would you buy it unlocked right now? I guess if you travel the world a lot and use prepaid sims, but I don't get it... maybe I'm missing something.

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People Who Hold The Hands Free Headset

On 09.23.09, In Random, Technology, By AC Slater

I think most people who have a cell phone these days are familiar with the term hands-free headset, especially with more and more states making it illegal to drive while holding a phone to your ear. Now along with hands-free headsets are bluetooth headsets which are a little different. Bluetooth is a wireless technology that has a range of about 30 feet and can connect a headset to a cell phone as well as transfer files, and I'm sure a lot of other stuff, it's basically limited wi-fi (without the internet). Now I know I'm not the only one that knows what the term "hands-free" is supposed to mean, so why the hell do people insist on holding the "hands-free" headset wire to their face when they are talking?

Obviously this doesn't pertain to bluetooth headsets, but the reason I brought those up in the first place is because people seem to know how to use those. You put the thing in your ear and you talk, no problem. I've never seen a single person physically holding a bluetooth headset up to their ear while they are talking on it, that would just be dumb. So seeing as how people know bluetooth headsets work when the microphone (and the entire unit) are up to 3 inches or more away from your mouth, yet they don't believe that a corded hands-free headset will work without them holding the microphone an inch from their mouth.

I can't even count how many times I've pulled up next to someone in Chicago that is using a hands-free headset, since it's illegal in the city of Chicago to hold a phone to your ear, yet they are still holding the cord up to their face... seriously people, why would they make holding a phone to your ear illegal yet allow you to hold a cord up to your face instead? I understand that the microphone for these corded headsets is on the cord itself, but do you know why it's there? Because that part usually hangs closest to your mouth. And no, it doesn't have to be an inch from your face for it to pick up your voice, like I said look at your bluetooth headset, is that coming anywhere near your mouth? Why does that one work for you, yet the corded one needs to be an inch from your mouth to pick up your voice? If anything you're making yourself harder to understand because the other person is going to think you're yelling into the phone because you're so close to it.

And that's not the only thing that annoys me about these things, have you ever seen the person on the hands-free yet they are holding the actual phone up to their face? That's even worse since usually the microphone on the phone is deactivated when you plug in the headset (might not be like that on all phones). So essentially you're just making yourself look like a moron because you're voice is being picked up by the microphone in the cord, not the phone. You'd be better of just wrapping a rubber band around your head to hold the whole phone up to your ear.

So if you use a corded hands-free headset while you're in the car please don't sit there and hold the corded microphone up to your face. I don't think they would have designed it that way if they thought people would have to hold it up in order for it to pick up their voice, that would make it pointless and definitely not hands-free.

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Sprint Cellular Service Terrible Indoors

On 09.21.09, In Technology, By AC Slater

To preface this post, I personally do not have Sprint, I have been a loyal AT&T customer since my first cell phone back in 2000 and honestly have never even considered switching carriers. I don't know why so many people have problems with AT&T, but I've never run into anything major other than the phone not working out in the sticks of Wisconsin, which isn't a big deal since I was on vacation anyways and there were plenty of friends around with phones that did work... actually Sprint was one of the few carriers that actually worked with full service up there. However, even though Sprint works up in the boondocks of Wisconsin, people still can't get decent signal in my own apartment which is in the middle of a major Chicago suburb, literally steps away from the city itself.

AT&T, Verizon, US Cellular even T-mobile all work totally fine with full service in my apartment, but the second anyone with Sprint tries to make or receive a phone call there's nothing. Normally this wouldn't have been an issue, since like I said I don't have Sprint, but my girlfriend does and she stays over quite a bit since moving out of her condo. So if she needs to make any phone calls on her phone she either has to walk outside the back door which gives her full signal, or stand near the windows which still barely works, it's ridiculous. I understand sometimes when a building is completely solid the cell signals have a hard time penetrating them, but the entire wall is windows and she still can't get a signal, yet outside on the same side of the building she has a full signal.

I don't understand what the problem is here... obviously there is coverage based on both the fact that she can walk outside and use the phone and a bunch of websites list towers within 2 miles. And I know it's not the phone since she had a Blackberry Pearl and now has the Blackberry Tour, both of which are newer phones yet still don't work. My other friend also has the Palm Pre which does the same thing... How can a cell phone company claim to have coverage in an area and yet it can't penetrate a couple windows? I don't think I have special cellular blocking windows that only block Sprint's signals, so what's the deal?

I've been looking for a way to boost the signal inside the apartment so that she doesn't have to stand by the window and yell so people can hear her, but the only option seems to be this Airave thing that Sprint offers, but it's $50-100 for the unit itself and then another $5/mo yet still uses your own cell minutes. Why would I have to pay another $5/mo to use my own minutes? All I want is some sort of antenna or repeater or something that I can plug in that grabs the signal coming off the Sprint tower and extends it for like 20 feet, it's not a big apartment, I don't need to supply the whole building with a better signal, just the couch area and the bedroom.

Has anyone had any luck getting Sprint to do anything about these random dead spots? Or found some sort of repeater that actually works that isn't hundreds of dollars? I would try to convince her to just switch services, but she just signed a new contract so that she could get the Tour so I don't think she'll be doing that anytime soon, plus she has a pretty good deal through work on Sprint service so I'm kinda stuck here. All this time I've been hearing problems with AT&T's network and how the iPhone is killing it and there are so many dropped calls, etc, yet I have never had a problem and my girlfriend is constantly having problems with Sprint. Does Sprint have free roaming or anything? Can I force the phone onto a different tower and see if that works? I really don't know what to do and she gets so frustrated when she can't hear people or they can't hear her and frankly I don't like dealing with it.... ugh, cell phone companies need to worry about upgrading their networks and coverage before they start lowering prices.

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Movie Theater Etiquette

On 09.01.09, In Movies, By AC Slater

I think I've figured out the main reason why box office sales seem to be in a decline these days... well ok, maybe the main reason is that most of the movies coming out today are sequels, remakes and "re-imaginings" and there's hardly any original stories, but besides that I think I've figured it out. I can remember going to the movies when I was younger and people were actually there to watch the movie. It was a weekend activity that a lot of families did together; got lunch as a family then took in a movie as a family. But today it seems like people aren't going to movies to see the movie anymore, it seems like they are going to the theater to talk to their friends or talk on the phone to their friends that aren't at the theater. What the fuck is the point?

If Hollywood wants to start seeing better box office numbers the first thing they need to do is start coming up with original ideas, but since they are clearly out of those, they should focus on making the theater experience better. I'm not saying it should necessarily be what I remember it being as a kid, but it needs improvement. I'm all for the new technology being implemented in theaters these days like DLP projectors, 3D, ear-splitting sound and all that stuff, so don't think that I'm a snob who only wants to see his movies on film and won't have it any other way, cause that's clearly not the case. However, when I pay over $10 these days to see a movie in the theater I expect to be able to watch and enjoy said movie without too many distractions.

I'll admit that I'm guilty of a few whispers to friends here and there during a flick, but I can honestly say that I have never held a full voiced conversation with the person sitting next to me while the movie is playing. I remember not wanting to go to movies as a kid with large groups of friends because I knew most of them would be talking throughout the whole thing thus ruining it for me and making me look like a jackass to everyone else in the theater, because that's what you are when you hold a full conversation during a movie, a jackass. Why the fuck did you come to a movie if all you wanted to do was talk to the person sitting next to you? Why didn't you just stay where ever you were and continue your conversation? Which leads me into my next point, cell phones.

(more...)

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Google Voice

On 07.29.09, In Technology, By AC Slater

I received an invite to join Google Voice yesterday even though I don't really think I have any need for the service, but hey it's Google and it's free so why not. To get the invite all I did was went to http://www.google.com/voice about 2 weeks ago, entered my information and waited. The invite arrived yesterday after I almost completely forgot about the service. I signed up, picked a number, linked it to my cell phone (since that's the only phone I have) and was on my way.... to something, I guess.

I got a pretty cool number, I think, it's the same forwards as it is backwards. I wanted to try and get a number like (xxx)awe-some, but numbers like that were already taken, so I settled. So what can you do with Google Voice? Well, I can call people from my computer, people can call my new number and I guess it rings my cell phone... people can leave voicemail and I can check it online and it also transcribes it to text which is kind of cool. I can also receive text messages to the new number and they forward to my cell phone and I can send/receive them online.

Now like I said, I really don't feel I have a use for this service since I only have 1 phone, my cell phone. So what is the point of me getting this new number just to have it forward to my cell phone? That doesn't seem to make any sense when people already know my cell phone number and can just call me on that. I thought maybe it could be used to save on minutes and texts, but first of all Apple denied the Google Voice app from the App Store and then removed the unofficial ones, and second of all Apps can't run in the background on the iPhone anyways, so if I got a call or a text to the Google Voice number it would just get forwarded to my cell phone as a call or text, thus using my minutes/texts from my cell plan. I have plenty of minutes on my plan, but my text messages are where I run into trouble. AT&T charges an arm and a leg for texts compared to the other carriers, $20 for unlimited texts on top of the iPhone data plan is a little ridiculous. That's $50 just for data, cause yes, texts are data and cost the cell companies next to nothing. So I was thinking that maybe I could use Google Voice for text messages now, but again there's no way for me to really get them on my phone besides having them forwarded as texts to my number, thus negating the purpose.

My iPhone is jailbroken so I was able to get the unofficial Google Voice app on my phone through other means, but it still doesn't help me in receiving texts. There are no push notifications for this app and no background processes (unless I wanted to run backgrounder, which I heard isn't entirely stable on the 3GS yet) so essentially I'd have to send a text and leave the app running while refreshing every couple of seconds to see if I got a new text. I did read that there is a round about way to use Prowl on the iPhone and Growl on your computer at home to send notifications to your phone, but I would have to leave a computer on all the time at home, and who knows what else. Just seems like too much work for me.

So really, the only thing that I've found useful about Google Voice is that I can leave it open at work and send/receive texts via the website all day without using my phone. It's a lot easier to type on a computer keyboard, it's free, and I look like I'm actually working! Basically I've found no use for this service yet, but I'm sure it's good for those of you that have multiple numbers and want may need to keep them organized, but for me I don't get it. Maybe I'll change all my domain registrar phone numbers to this number and maybe other business stuff, but we'll see.

Is anyone else using this service? Am I completely missing the point? Let me know if there's a good reason for a person with only 1 phone number (cell phone) to use this?

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